


King Of The Castle

by KingKay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Angst, Fights, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Harry Potter is So Done, Minister for Magic Harry Potter, Other, The Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter) is Terrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23155168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingKay/pseuds/KingKay
Summary: Harry is tired, the war is over but it seems that no one has learned anything from it. When the new Minister of magic tries to implement some new laws under his name Harry finally reachs his breaking point. It's time for another new Minister and Harry is ready to fight for that title.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 84





	King Of The Castle

**Author's Note:**

> This is very loosly based on the song Castle by Halsey. It's been sat in my wip folder for months but I've finally got it finished. Please enjoy.

Harry forced a smile onto his face as another camera flashed before him blinding him for a moment so that dots danced in his vision. All he wanted was to be left in peace and finally be allowed rest. The war had ended just a few weeks ago but since then it had been meeting after meeting at the Ministry, recounting what had happened and making statements that swore to the still mourning public that Voldemort was truly dead.

He was tired and angry, angry at the Ministry for their uselessness and the fact they kept parading him around and telling him to smile. He was their poster boy for the future rather than an 18 year old that had just died for them and was mentally struggling to accept everything. He had lost so many friends, buried mentors and yet rather than sitting in the burrow with his grieving family he was answering questions for the papers. His eyes darted to the side where Ron and Hermione stood their faces still streaked with tears from Fred’s funeral only a few hours ago but refusing to leave his side and abandon him to the vultures around him.

“Mr Potter, are you excited about the Ministry implementing your plan to execute all marked death eaters?”

The shouted question took a moment to sink through the haze of his numb mind but when it did he whipped his head towards the speaker. A wizard in bright green robes and a long greying bread who was waving a quill above his head. Harry’s fake smile slipped off his face and his eyes narrowed with the rage slowly consuming him. Harry moved away from the podium, pushing away the hands that attempted to hold him back and the nervous mutters to stop and stormed forward, hopping off the platform until he could grab the man by his brightly coloured robes and yank his face lower, as he growled out a question of his own.

“What did you say?”

The man licked his lips, his eyes darting to the side but a sharp tug brought them back to Harry’s unwavering gaze.

“Um…well, the Minister made an announcement yesterday about your idea. Anyone marked will be put to death and the sympathizers will be magically bound to prevent another war. So we don’t have to be afraid anymore,” the man’s words trailing off into a whisper as Harry bared his teeth and magic sparked over his skin, raising the hair on the back of his neck.

“That was not my idea and you should be very, very afraid,” Harry snapped out before he pushed the man away from him. With a spin on his heels he faced the Minister still up on stage that smiled at him as he rubbed his hands together.

“Now, that wasn’t my exact words, but I’m sure you agree that it is the best way to deal with the war criminals? Too many were allowed to walk free the last time and we all know how that ended.”

A few people nodded along with the Minister’s words, their faces hard and something vicious lingering in their eyes. Harry clenched his jaw, there were certainly some that he wanted to see removed from the world, that deserved it even, but something didn’t sit right with him about signing death warrants and if he agreed right now that was what he would be doing. He might as well murder them himself if he offered his name to the Minister’s new law because he was Harry sodding Potter and his words held power. Not the sort used to cast a spell but the sort of power that controlled the way people thought and acted. If he condemned the death eaters people would rally around him. It would be a blood bath of people taking their own justice on those that had been magically bound and therefore defenceless.

Harry glanced to Ron and Hermione, searching for their thoughts and found Ron frowning in displeasure as Hermione whispered hurriedly into his ear as she held a folder open, eyes reading the words until she gasped loudly.

“They don’t even get a trail?”

Harry’s eyes returned to the Minister, his smile faltering under her shocked cry of outrage. Harry walked forward, his hands curling into fists that shook as his blood heated in his veins. Sirius’s face flashed before him, Sirius who had sat in a cell rotting away for 12 years because he was never given a chance to explain. Hell would freeze over before Harry let another person suffer through that again but that wasn’t what would happen. They would be killed, dead before they could even get a word out in their defence or stripped of their magic, something that they had been born with. How was it any different that when they had tried to take magic from muggleborns and snapped wands in this very building. Even Umbridge had given her victims a trail, whether it was fair or not doesn’t change that fact.

“Ah, well for some of them there really isn’t much point in a trial. Those that have been marked clearly are guilty of supporting… **him**. The Ministry simply wishes to deal with this issue as quickly as possible so that we can focus on rebuilding our world back to the glory it once was before the war and the contamination of dark magic.”

Harry didn’t bother listening too closely to the Minister’s words as he climbed back up on stage standing toe to toe with the man as he gulped and took a step back.

“You would know all about dark magic wouldn’t you and what the war was like. Forgive me but I don’t remember seeing your face at the battle while I was dying for our world even as it sought to hunt me down as undesirable number one!”

His voice rang out loudly in the atrium, as the crowd of reporters and staff fell silent staring in wonder at Harry. The Minister tilted his head to the side with a look of pure condescension on his face, “Harry, that was their influence on the Ministry but order has been returned and we all appreciate the sacrifices you made. You seem tired, why don’t we end this meeting early and you can come back tomorrow to discuss this more. I’m sure once you’ve had a chance to really think about things you’ll see the benefit to the new laws.”

Harry clenched his jaw as the Minister patted his shoulder, good dog it seemed to say; you’ve done your job now go sit in the corner until we need you again. Well, Harry wasn’t going to be patronised by some bloated idiot who thought he could treat him like a child after using him as a soldier. He grabbed the Minister’s wrist, throwing his hand away from him as the touch made his skin crawl and bile rise in his throat. Harry opened his mouth to tell the Minister exactly what he thought of these new laws when his attention was taken by a shout from the back of the room.

“Potter!”

He would know that voice anywhere, the harsh way it said his name like a curse could only belong to one person. Harry's head lifted as he watched Malfoy storming towards him, his mother only a few steps behind, her face was grey and lined with worry as she darted looks at those around them.

“If I had known you would be as bad as him I would have handed you over at the manor. Why did you bother pulling me out of that fucking fire only to kill me now? Wouldn’t I have suffered enough? Did you want to ensure it would be a real spectacle that everyone can watch? Don’t worry, look the nasty death eater is dead now ladies and gentlemen and it’s all thanks to me, the boy who lived, the only one allowed to live.”

“Draco, enough,” Narcissa urged taking her son’s arm in a clawed grip and tugging him back even as the Auror’s readied their wands and stepped forward.

“No, I’m not going to sit back and wait for them to come for me, for you. You want me dead Potter, then do it yourself. It’s not like it would be the first time you’ve cut me down and left me bleeding on the floor. Come on savour show the world how righteous you are.”

Harry had been frozen in shock as Malfoy spoke but he quickly shook that off when a stunner hit Malfoy’s chest knocking him back into his mother’s arms as she caught him.

“Take them away, place them in a cell downstairs for now and then arrange for them to be taken to Azkaban,” the Minister ordered loudly before turning back to the collection of people before him. “This is exactly what I mean; our world will not be safe while these people exist.”

“These people?” Harry murmured under his breath. He had heard others say things like that before and it still turned his gut. There was no these people, no them or us.

“Draco, no, not my son. Let him go!”

Harry’s head shot up at the desperate plea and he saw Narcissa Malfoy struggling with an Auror, her hands reaching out towards Malfoy who having recovered from the stunner was fighting with his own guard. There were tears running down Narcissa's face and Malfoy’s angry scowl had been replaced with wide eyed panic. He wriggled to break free of the hands holding him until a punch to the face knocked his head to the side.

“He’s just a boy!” Narcissa cried as she thrashed in response and fought harder to get to Malfoy as she sobbed.

Harry didn’t pause and jumped down once again running towards the family, as an echo of Molly’s voice rang in his ears from what felt like a lifetime ago. 

_He’s just a boy._

“Let them go!”

The Aurors froze; clearly confused by his demand but since it was him they obeyed, releasing their grasp and stepping back but drawing their wands and training them on their captures. The moment she was free Narcissa had Malfoy in her arms his head buried in her neck as they both sunk to their knees shaking. Narcissa looked up as he reached them and with fear in her eyes she tightened her hands on Malfoy’s shirt. The purple marks of a fresh bruises could be seen on her wrists from her struggle and her hair fell in a messy tangle with a few wisps stuck to her damp cheeks.

“Please, I have no right to ask this of you but please save him, save my son. Take me instead,” she whispered her voice raspy.

Malfoy shifted closer to his mother, his fingers gripping hard to her dress and Harry was sure he couldn’t be pried off without breaking them. A quick look showed Narcissa’s bare forearms, unblemished by the dark mark but Malfoy’s peeked through the torn sleeve of his shirt, several scars crossing over the skull and snake in a failed attempt to remove it, a few of them recent enough that they had begun to bleed again from the Auror’s too tight grip.

Malfoy lifted his head, his hands cradling his mother’s face as he quietly shushed her and thumbed away her tears even as his own started to fall. He turned to Harry, one of his eyes was swelling shut and black but the other pupil bore deeply into Harry’s own.

Like looking into some twisted mirror Harry was suddenly back in the manor, Bellatrix’s warped face grinning down at him as she held Malfoy’s neck and pressured him to identify Harry. The flash back caused sweat to break out over his skin and his hands became clammy as he tried to bring himself back to the here and now and move past the fear gripping his chest.

He blinked, squeezing his eyes shut to push away the haunted memory but when he opened them again Malfoy was still kneeing on the floor with his mother pressed as close to him as her small frame would allow.

“Get up!” one of the Aurors shouted as he reached out for Narcissa forcing her to her feet again while another yanked Malfoy up and away, their hands pulled apart.

“I said let them go!”

As the words roared out of him so did Harry’s magic, knocking the Aurors back as a shockwave rippled through the large room and rattled the enchanted windows. Tendrils of magic lashed around Harry as after giving Malfoy and his mother one last look he turned back to the Minister.

“I did not agree to this and I never will. I am sick of seeing mothers burying sons and daughters. I am tired of watching one more person be put in the ground and I am fed up of hearing the sound of people beg for the lives of their children.”

His mother’s own cries for his life rang in his ears followed by a flash of green while Harry’s own vision went red.

The Minister straightened up pushing past the worry that showed in the lines along his forehead, “Now my boy, while I understand that it is hard not to feel sympathy for them the law has already been passed, it is the will of the people and I have only their best interest at heart. You must remember that these are dangerous dark magic users.”

Harry felt his mouth turn up in a cruel smile as he scoffed out a breathy chuckle.

“Of course, they look terrifying don’t they?” Harry waved his hand at the Malfoy’s who were now embracing and looking at him frozen stiff with terror. “You know what I do remember; I remember watching a boy lower his wand while his hand shook so hard he could barely hold it. His voice broke when he told Dumbledore that he had to kill him or his family would die. I remember him,” Harry pointed a finger back at Malfoy before continuing, “being forced to his knees while his own Aunt dug her fingers into his neck and told him to identify me only to hear him lie and say he didn’t know. He did, I know he did, but he lied anyway knowing that telling the truth might have spared his family. Is that a good reason for him to die, because he was a child and scared and trying to keep the people he cares about safe? Voldemort was living in his house but let’s punish him for that, the penalty for wanting to live is death because that’s only fair. You put children into a war and don’t care how broken they come out the other side because you’re too busy looking for scapegoats. I didn’t die to watch us continue to murder each other in cold blood and call it justice.”

“That is enough boy, I am the Minister-.”

“Don’t call me a boy. I am not a little kid anymore and I won’t be silenced.”

The Minister frowned, his eyes darting to those around them as the reporters’ scribbled notes and looked on in fascination.

“This is all getting out of hand; we all need to calm down. Why don’t we talk about this in private?”

In answer Harry screamed no, his voice crackling as he let out his anger and pain and guilt and a hundred other emotions that he had been pushing down for days, weeks, years until they exploded. The ground underneath him trembled, sending the crowd to the floor as the magic rippled out of his body, hitting out at everyone. The Minister staggered before a few Aurors raced forward and steadied him. Ron and Hermione managed to remain upright however and raced to his side. All three of them stood against the Ministry, the heroes of the war but in reality just three kids. What did they have to show for their glory except dark circles under their eyes and a collection of scars that didn’t begin to show the damage on their souls.

“I will not ask again, Harry. You will let the Aurors continue to do their job and calm down or there will be consequences. I’m willing to forgive your behaviour and put it down to stress. Perhaps you should take some time with your friends and relax.”

“What a bloody arsehole,” Ron muttered even as he firmed his stance and his hand moved towards his wand.

“Agreed, what’s the plan?” Hermione added the papers for the new laws in her hand but even as Harry glanced at them they began to burn until Hermione let the last scrapes of charred paper drift to the ground.

“This ends now, the Ministry falls. No one else is going to die, not because of me and not out of some twisted need for revenge. Take as many as you can down without hurting them.”

The Minister was growing impatient as the tension built between them and the reporters realising that this was unlikely to be sorted with words began scrabbling away to the corners of the room, seeking cover from the battle about to start. There would be a battle because after years of fighting Harry didn’t know how to back down, all he knew was to keep going until he won no matter how many times he got knocked down or how much of his blood was spilled. He wasn’t worth anything other than as a sacrifice, thrown against the bad guys over and over and even if he died then he still wasn’t allowed to rest.

He glared at the wands raised and pointed towards him as Ron spun to face the two behind them, while Narcissa and Draco crouched down, protected by Harry before them. A stunner came from the left and then more followed, all of them aiming for Harry who threw out his hands and built a shield around them. The sphere of magic glowing with a blue light and crackling as each spell hit it.

“What are you trying to do Harry, I thought you were on our side?”

“I am on my side, because it’s the only one that hasn’t let me down. The Ministry is still as corrupted as it was before and I won’t be used in a propaganda campaign designed by a bigot that will only cause more discrimination. Do you think that stripping away a person’s magic will make them less dangerous? That all the squibs you create, especially the ones who don’t deserve it won’t become bitter just like Voldemort did. They don’t need magic when muggles have guns and bombs. How will you protect our world then? This has to stop, and if you can’t do it I will. I will seize the Ministry, take it apart piece by piece until I have removed every selfish stupid person and law from it and then I will fix it.”

“That is an impressive ideal but hardly practical, the whimsy of youth but in the real world it doesn’t work that way. Swallow your pride and stop this tantrum,” the Minister said offering a fatherly smile and urging Harry to return to his place beside him as he stretched out a hand. Despite firing first he somehow still thought he could talk Harry down, he must have forgotten that isn’t how Harry had been taught to solve a problem.

“My pride?” Harry shook his head and dropped his hands letting the shield fall, as he stepped forward in calm easy steps. “My pride as you call it has been earned, with each scar and every death by my hands, so believe me when I say that I know how the world really works.”

A few of the Aurors shifted nervously as Harry got closer halving the distance between himself and the Minister. The next spell fired at him he blinked out of existence with a look, before snapping his fingers. The Aurors wands vanished in a flash of magic, disappearing from existence because Harry willed it and his magic answered.

His smile grew wider as the panic around him rose, it was such a gratifying feeling to finally let go, to stop letting other people pull the strings that guided him. After everything he had been through this foolish old man thought he had the right to treat him as a child and chastise him for having a tantrum. He had barely begun unleashing all the pain he had suffered and now they would see what he could do without Voldemort inside his head, without any restraints on his core. The desire to rip and tear them all to shreds with his magic filled his heart and sent more magic to dance on his fingertips while the air whipped around him in frenzy.

“Choke on my pride,” Harry hissed as he sent all the power inside him outwards. The Minister gasped, hands lifting to his neck as he struggled to suck in a breath when the walls of his throat swelled up, closing up the passageway.

“Harry, stop!”

Harry heard Hermione’s shout but ignored it along with the noise around him, the shouts and zing of spells becoming background noise as he focused on the Minister’s paling face as his mouth hung open in a never ending gasp. A hand grabbed him and sent a tremor into his arm as it was forced down to his side.

“That’s enough Potter, you’ve made your point,” Malfoy said sharply but Harry could hear the fear underneath it. Blinking Harry’s power drew back and the Minister dropped to the floor hacking as he sucked in air. As the world returned Harry gazed around at the scared faces staring at him while Hermione and Ron fought with the fresh wave of Auror’s that had arrived. Harry met Malfoy’s eyes as his mother stepped up beside him and attempted to get him to leave.

“Everyone, get out now!” Harry shouted and the reporters scrambled away as if his word released their frozen limbs.

“Come on Draco,” Narcissa begged again but Draco stood firm, his eyes still locked on Harry’s.

“This isn’t your fight,” Harry stated as he handed Draco his holly wand, “the choice is yours, take this and run or fight with me. I’m not forcing you into my war but I need to stop this, stop them from hurting people.”

Draco looked down at the wand and then Narcissa.

“No, we’re going home. Draco, please,” she said but Draco was shaking his head.

“I’ve made my choice,” Draco answered and lifting the wand pointed it out towards the Ministries agents while moving to stand beside Harry. “Father said I would change the world one day, he was wrong but I can help make a better one. Are you ready Harry?”

“Always, Draco,” Harry replied as together they sent out stunners that knocked out the Auror’s aiming for them.

A volley of red sparks filled the atrium but eventually the air cleared as silence descended. Harry looked on with disappointment at the best the Ministry had littered around them, either unconscious or bound with magical ropes and shook his head. He knew their ranks were low after the war and most of them were untrained rookies that had been drafted and it showed as they were defeated by four teenagers and Narcissa who had snatched up a wand from somewhere and joined her son in fighting.

The Minister was just getting to his feet, his face shining with sweat as he looked with terror at the carnage around him. He staggered back as Harry approached while his eyes searched for a way to escape and he fumbled for his wand. Harry vanished it with a wave of his hand the moment it was lifted towards him. Now standing face to face Harry tilted his head up as the Minister cowered.

“You’re just a child, you don’t understand,” the Minister pleaded as if it would change things. Harry felt himself smile, even a child knows when they have lost and this game was over. A line from an old children’s song rose in Harry’s head and he whispered it softly to the Minister who gazed at him in puzzlement.

“I might be a child but I won. That means I’m the king of the castle, now get down you dirty rascal.”

Walking forward Harry manoeuvred himself so that the Minister was forced to step down off the slightly raised platform and look up at him. Harry knew the fight wasn’t really over but he had seized the Ministry and had no intention of giving it back.


End file.
